HeyGen vs Synthesia vs just paying someone to do it
An honest comparison of the two big AI avatar tools and the third option nobody lists: paying for the finished videos rather than the software. Real prices and what each actually costs you in time.
On this page
- HeyGen and Synthesia solve the same problem differently. HeyGen leans towards social video and cloning yourself, Synthesia towards corporate training and enterprise controls.
- Both are good. Neither writes your scripts, decides your topics, or publishes anything.
- The subscription is the small cost. The real cost is the hours per month you will spend operating it.
- If you would not use Photoshop to get a logo, the same logic applies here.
If you have decided you want AI video, the search usually goes: HeyGen or Synthesia? It is a fair question with a real answer. It is also the wrong first question, and this post covers both.
HeyGen or Synthesia: which should you pick?
| HeyGen | Synthesia | Done-for-you | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best at | Social video, cloning yourself | Corporate training, enterprise | Getting videos published |
| You provide | Script, topics, editing, publishing | Same | An hour of recording, then approvals |
| Your time, monthly | Several hours | Several hours | About five minutes |
| Cost driver | Subscription tier | Subscription tier | Fixed monthly fee |
| Who it suits | Someone who wants to operate the tool | Teams with training content | An owner who wants the outcome |
What is HeyGen best at?
Strongest on the things short-form social needs. Cloning yourself from a recording is well supported, the avatars carry casual delivery convincingly, and translation into other languages with matched lip-sync holds up well.
The output suits Reels, Shorts and TikTok. If your plan is "put my face on camera weekly without being on camera", this is the tool most aligned with that. Current tiers are on HeyGen's pricing page.
What is Synthesia best at?
Built for the enterprise end. Strong template library, good governance and brand controls, and an interface designed for a team producing training and internal comms rather than one person producing social clips.
If you need a hundred employees to watch a compliance module, this is the better tool. For a studio owner posting three times a week, it is more machinery than the job needs. Current tiers are on Synthesia's pricing page.
Why does buying the tool not get videos published?
Here is the part that comparison posts leave out, because most of them are affiliate pages.
The tool renders video. That is one step of about eight.
Every month, somebody still has to:
- Decide what this month's videos are about
- Write each script so it sounds like you and not like a template
- Generate, review, and regenerate the ones that came out wrong
- Caption and brand them
- Schedule them across your channels
- Actually publish
- Look at what performed
- Do it again next month
That is a few hours a month at minimum, indefinitely. In our own delivery those eight steps are the whole job, and the rendering is the part we spend least time on. It is also why tool subscriptions lapse: the software did its job, and the owner ran out of month.
This is the same reason a hosting account is not a website and a camera is not a film. Buying the tool buys you the ability to do the work.
What is the third option?
Which is the one nobody puts in the comparison table: pay for the finished videos rather than the software.
You record once. Someone else does the eight steps. You approve the scripts and the videos appear.
Our version runs from $200 to $1,200 a month depending on how many videos and channels you want, published to your channels and captioned, from a recording session you do exactly once. The counts per tier are on the pricing page. Every script gets your written sign-off before anything is produced. Full breakdown on the social media management packages we sell, and what a conventional route costs if you want the comparison in money rather than tools.
The comparison that actually matters is not HeyGen versus Synthesia. It is:
- Tool route: subscription, plus several hours of your month, forever
- Done-for-you route: a fixed monthly fee, plus about five minutes
What does each route actually cost per video?
The subscription is the cheap part, which is why comparing subscriptions answers the wrong question. Put your own time in at any rate you like and the ranking changes.
| Tool route | Done-for-you | |
|---|---|---|
| Software | A monthly subscription | Included |
| Your time | A few hours every month, indefinitely | About five minutes of approvals |
| Scripts | You write them | Written for you, you sign off |
| Captions and branding | You do it | Included |
| Publishing | You do it | Included |
| What stops it | You get busy | Nothing that depends on your week |
Price your own hour at $50 and three hours a month is $150 of your time on top of the subscription, every month, forever. Price it at what an hour of your professional time actually bills at, which for a law firm partner or a dental practice owner is considerably more, and the tool route stops looking cheap well before the subscription does.
That is not an argument against the tools. It is an argument for being honest about which line of the comparison is doing the work.
How should you choose?
Choose a tool if you enjoy this work, you have someone whose job includes it, or you need output volume that only makes sense in-house. Both HeyGen and Synthesia are good software and you will not regret either.
Choose done-for-you if you have already tried posting consistently and stopped because you ran out of week. Adding software to that problem tends to produce a subscription, not a video.
Worth being direct about our position. We use HeyGen in our own delivery, so we are not a neutral party, and this post exists partly because "which tool" is what people search. We also do not sell software, so we have no reason to talk you out of buying some. If you want to run this yourself, both tools are good and you should pick one.
Frequently asked questions
One hour of your time. A year of content in your face.
You record once. We write, produce, caption and publish your videos from then on, and nothing goes out without your sign-off.
We send the guide and nothing else unless you ask. No call, no sequence.